The appeal of New Country music?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Johnny Action, Sep 9, 2019.

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  1. Johnny Action

    Johnny Action Forum President Thread Starter

    Location:
    Kailua, Hawai’i
    Interesting (and not very long) article discusses what appear to be shifting themes in country music over the past few decades.

    Country Hits Increasingly Objectify Women and Glorify Whiteness | Pacific Standard

    Personally I admit that try as I might (by listening to the local FM “new country” here in the western part of Washington State, I just don’t like it. And I’m a big fan of “old country” if that means artists like Hank I, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and all the “outlaw country” artists of his generation (Ray Wylie Hubbard, Hank Jr, Merle Haggard, Jerry Jeff W, et al), even younger guys like Wayne Hancock are huge favorites for me.

    Buy the new country stuff strikes me (usually, not always), as one dimensional thematically and pretty flat musically (more MOR rock n roll than country, IMHO).

    Then again, I could be all worng...
     
    via_atx, deredordica, porieux and 6 others like this.
  2. thepigdog

    thepigdog Music and beer

    Location:
    Maine
    There is no appeal for me. More pop/rock than country. Big hats do not make a country singer.
     
  3. eric777

    eric777 Astral Projectionist

    I’m not a fan of country music regardless if it’s new or old. As far as the article is concerned, you will find those themes in rock also. You will also find new country songs that are not guilty of these themes.
     
    BeatleBruceMayer, Daniel Khan and ARK like this.
  4. Will Harris

    Will Harris Forum Resident

    None except some of the old timers, like Chris Hillman and Herb Pedersen, that are still around. It's not Country music anymore. Not the mainstream stuff. Auto-tune and Raping don't fit my idea of Country music.

    Indie folks do some nice Country sounds. I don't think any of that makes the charts, does it? To tell the truth, I don't even look at the Country charts these days.
     
  5. savemenow

    savemenow Forum Resident

    Location:
    SE Pa
    ...but maybe if they're also wearing cowboy boots?!
     
  6. Johnny Action

    Johnny Action Forum President Thread Starter

    Location:
    Kailua, Hawai’i
    Of course there are exceptions to the rule. The point is that there is a strong trend. Why would that be?
     
    tin ears likes this.
  7. 12stringbassist

    12stringbassist Location: Irrelevance.

    Location:
    Manchester UK
    It's turning into generic, streamlined furmulaic takes on 'Achy breaky heart' and Shania Twain.
    Country music needs Carlene Carter to come back and sort it out.
     
    clhboa, averica, ODShowtime and 3 others like this.
  8. StarThrower62

    StarThrower62 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Syracuse, NY
    The last "new" singer I liked was Randy Travis. But that was 30 years ago. Since then I like Junior Brown. Great low vocals and guitar playing.
     
  9. SizzleVonSizzleton

    SizzleVonSizzleton The Last Yeti

    Sounds like a country version of Rock 'n' Roll High School. Roger Corman approves!!
     
    Dudley Morris, altaeria and Fullbug like this.
  10. blaken123

    blaken123 Your Greater Tri-County CD Superstore

    Location:
    Lexington, KY
    I think new country is for people who like the sound of straight forward poppy rock and roll and a) can't find it on the radio anymore because the radio is heavy with r&b and teen music or b) want to identify as "country" even though they don't like the sound of old-fashioned country very much. The good news for everyone involved is that modern country exists for people who like that, then there's a bunch of lesser-known people making more traditional country for people who like that, and then of course there's thousands of actual old country songs and records, easily accessible, for people who like that.
     
  11. Mirror Image

    Mirror Image 200 Years Of Anton Bruckner

    Location:
    United States
    I think this newer country muzak (and that’s what it is let’s be honest) fails to engage serious music fans because it’s generic, watered-down corporate rock with a twang. Gone are the days of Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Emmylou Harris, Conway Twitty, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, among others.
     
  12. ghostnotes

    ghostnotes Wish you were here.

    Location:
    Charlotte, NC
    The big issue is that modern country your hear on the radio isn't country. It's pop music with a drawl trying to compete for Spotify streams with all the auto-tuned pop/rap. Modern pop and hip-hop radio are in a ****ty place, so is countrypop.

    That said, there's great modern country happening, many are in alt-country, indie country, folk, Americana, etc. Finding the good stuff (in any genre) these days it all about cutting through the generic noise.

    These guys and gals are well worth checking out if you're looking for quality and/or traditional throwbacks.

    Sturgill Simpson
    Jason Isbell
    Cody Jinks
    Tyler Childers
    Chris Stapleton
    Midland

    Kacey Musgraves
    Margo Price
    Brandy Clark
    Purple Mountains
    Ashley Monroe
    Lucinda Williams
     
    MikeManaic61, RJPDX, carlwm and 19 others like this.
  13. Thermionic Dude

    Thermionic Dude Forum Resident

    Country music in 2019 is analogous to Arena Rock in 1979 and Hair Metal in 1989, which is to say it is a bland, superficial, pandering facsimile of the excellent, genre-defying stuff that came before it.

    (Now get off my lawn and leave me alone so I can enjoy my lemonade and cleanse my pallet with some good old fashioned pickin' from Chet Atkins, Glen Campbell, and Roy Clark!)
     
  14. Raunchnroll

    Raunchnroll Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    You're hot... I'm hot...we're in a truck!
     
  15. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product

    Country has never been top dog on my players, but the Country I like sits happily alongside the rock I like.
    Cash, Haggard, Jennings, Nesmith, Kristofferson, Jerry Lee ...
     
  16. Evethingandnothing

    Evethingandnothing Forum Resident

    Location:
    Devon
    Not appealing at all. I don't necessarily go along with the notion that new country is some haven of redneck politics, but if it were it would be denying country music's own roots. Bill Monroe and Hank Williams played with and were mentored by black musicians, and Jimmie Rodgers was also long associated with black musicians. It don't get more country than those three. I expect they would have been appalled at any notion of country music being associated with redneck politics. As for the music of new country, I think it must have relocated to the big city. Meh!
     
  17. Yannick

    Yannick Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cologne, Germany
    For a new artist from the 2010s, you might want to give Sam Outlaw a try.
     
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  18. DEAN OF ROCK

    DEAN OF ROCK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hoover, AL
    Appeal is that it is major “dumbed down”.
     
    clhboa and intv7 like this.
  19. ARK

    ARK Forum Miscreant

    Location:
    Charlton, MA, USA
    Well when you have a name like that, you just HAVE to get into the country music game
     
    Dudley Morris likes this.
  20. segue

    segue Psychoacoustic Member

    Location:
    Hawai'i
    Amen. I just re-watched her first Austin City Limits Show (1994)....Now that was a band!
     
  21. walrus

    walrus Staring into nothing

    Location:
    Nashville
    I don't really understand the appeal of country regardless of decade (i'm more interested in the musicians than singers, and here's an industry that, with a few notable exceptions, is just singers who don't play or write much of anything), but the new stuff is just atrocious.

    On the flipside, it's all so similar that when I have to play this crap at gigs, I can look up the chords online and fake my way through the songs in a band situation without ever having to hear them.
     
  22. Vinyl is final

    Vinyl is final Not Insane - I have a sense of humor

    Location:
    South central, KY
    I was in a country band in the King County area called Midnight Run back about ten or so years ago. It was my introduction to actually listening to modern country. As a bass player and singer, it was a lot of fun, but I did tire pretty quickly of "bro-country".

    You can only write so many songs about pickup trucks, droppin' the tailgate, girls in tight blue jeans or, better yet, tight cutoffs.

    But I love What Was I Thinkin' and Some Girls Do to this day. The lyrics are awesome and the bass lines are fun.
     
  23. Vinyl is final

    Vinyl is final Not Insane - I have a sense of humor

    Location:
    South central, KY
    A guilty pleasure of mine is Miranda Lambert. And here is a great line: "I'm waitin' on the sunset, 'cause yesterday ain't over yet." What other kind of music messes with the space/time continuum like country? :D
     
    Suncola likes this.
  24. walrus

    walrus Staring into nothing

    Location:
    Nashville
    I tried to get through her last album, it had some genuinely good songs and I appreciated the move away from the radio sound, but I can't listen to 90 minutes of her singing, especially with the way country records are mixed with the vocals suuuper high in the mix. The twangy vocals/accent is just grating to me. A little is okay, I love me some Isbell, I dig Ashley Monroe, Lucinda, stuff like that...but I feel like the mainstream singers intentionally dial up the accent on purpose to score points with the pickup truck crowd or something, and it's like nails on a chalkboard.
     
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